Community ‘ecstatic' over new Grand Caillou Middle School

Students, teachers and parents in the Grand Caillou area are celebrating the Terrebonne School Board's approval Tuesday night of a new middle school building.

Matthew AlbrightStaff Writer

Students, teachers and parents in the Grand Caillou area are celebrating the Terrebonne School Board's approval Tuesday night of a new middle school building.Located on Grand Caillou Road just south of Woodlawn Ranch Road, the 57,953-square-foot, two-story building is expected to be completed by 2014. The new school will serve about 450 fifth- through eighth-graders. The old school farther south at 6741 Grand Caillou Road, which has experienced repeated flooding, serves sixth- through eighth-graders. Construction will cost more than $15.7 million. That money will come from interest-free bonds the school system sold with voters' approval. Those bonds will be paid back using money from the 1-cent sales tax the board levies. The bottom floor will contain the lobby, administration offices, kitchen and “cafetorium,” a joint space for meals and school functions.The top floor will include most of the school's classroom space, including a computer lab, library and band room.The school is designed so that much of the second story hangs over an outdoor space on the first floor, leaving a 15,630-square-foot covered outdoor area that will be shielded from the elements. The project's price tag is higher than the $12 million school officials originally estimated. The increased costs are partially a result of efforts to lessen flood risk. The bottom floor, for example, is built up a few feet so it sits 10 feet above sea level.That's higher than regulations require and high enough to meet the guidelines of incoming Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps, which could qualify the school for federal grants.The bottom floor will be built out of materials that aren't easily damaged by water.“If we do get a big storm that floods the first floor, you can just go in there with a hose and clean everything out,” said Merlin Lirette, the project's architect. “One of the main concerns we had with this school was making it very hard to flood but also very easy to clean if it did flood.”Lirette said the school is within the Thompson Road levee expansion project, adding further flood protection.“We wanted this school to be as flood-proof as we could make it,” he said.The building is designed to withstand 150-mph winds.The new building is great news for parents, students and teachers at the school, who have fought flooding there for years.In recent memory, Grand Caillou Middle has flooded seven times. That's often left students in temporary transfer schools or without school for weeks. “I am ecstatic that we will finally get our new school,” wrote Brandi Bourg on Facebook. “Our kids won't have to worry about what school they will be sent to, which is stressful for young kids. It's bad enough some may have their houses flooded, but they will still have their security by going to their own school.” School officials said they haven't determined what will happen to the old school.Cindy Gray, the school's principal, has a picture of the new school hanging in her office.“Everybody asks about it, both parents and students,” she said. “Their faces just light up when they see it.” Gray said the Grand Caillou community has been waiting for the school for a long time. She said it's often the first question parents have at meetings and conferences. “This community has been through so much. Way too often they've had to go to different schools and have their entire education interrupted because of a storm,” she said. “This is such a positive thing for us.”Lirette said Thompson Construction Co., the Thibodaux-based contractor, will start work early next month. Once construction starts, it should be finished within a year and a half.

Staff Writer Matthew Albright can be reached at 448-7635 or at matthew.albright@dailycomet.com.

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